The invention relates to an adjustment and measuring apparatus and method for an adjustable width continuous casting mold of the type disclosed and illustrated in prior U.S. Pat. No. 3,964,727 issued June 22, 1976. Such molds are used in the process for forming continuous slabs of molten metal.
The casting mold itself is a box-like container formed of a pair of spaced-apart rigid primary mold members, forming relatively broad opposed casting faces, and side wall mold plates of relatively narrow width spaced-apart and arranged between the primary mold members. The primary mold members and side wall plates form a roughly rectangular cavity, open at both the top and bottom, through which the molten metal flows. The mold members are provided with cooling tubes or passageways for partially cooling the metal in the cavity thus forming a solidified skin surrounding an interior core of molten metal.
In the mold described in the above-mentioned U.S. Pat. No. 3,964,727, the side wall members are supported upon fixed mounting blocks so that they may be adjusted inwardly toward each other or outwardly away from each other by adjusting the longitudinal movement of connectors carried by the blocks. The mounting blocks are also provided with spring pressured bolts, to secure the blocks to the front and rear primary mold members.
Pressure members, such as plungers mounted in the blocks permit spreading apart the primary mold members against the spring resistance for adjusting, inwardly and outwardly, the side wall mold members. As set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 3,964,727, such pressure means are easily and rapidly operable to sufficiently spread apart the primary mold members for rapid adjustment of the side wall mold members when desired.
Among the problems involved in adjusting the width of a continuous casting mold cavity is the time required for a worker to change the mold, for example, from a run of a width of three feet to a subsequent run of a different width such as three and one-half feet. In prior mold adjustments, such as recited in U.S. Pat. No. 3,964,727, it is necessary to shut down the metal flow and manually lower a gauge into the center of the cavity to adjust the side wall inside faces relative to the mold cavity vertical center line. The worker, by the use of feeler gauges, measures the distance from the center to the upper and lower edges and the corners of the side wall mold members while the primary mold members are separated allowing the side members to be moved. This procedure typically takes about twenty-five minutes for the workman to adjust the cavity to cast a different width slab. During each manual gauging, the molten metal is held in its ladle resulting in costly down time for the casting operation.
When the metal partially cools during casting, there is some shrinkage or contraction of the solidified skin and interior core. Thus it is desired to provide a tapered side wall mold plate. The procedure for adjusting the taper or tilt also requires manual gauging and also requires shutting down the metal flow.
Prior to the present invention there was no automatic system for measuring the change in width of a continuous casting mold cavity without the necessity of shutting down the metal flow and manually measuring as previously explained. Furthermore there was no effective, accurate automatic system for measuring or adjusting taper of the side walls. For example, while U.S. Pat. No. 4,171,719 relates to a system for measuring tilt or taper, the physical location of parts and connection between parts necessarily introduces error factors into the system.